Need Some Ideas on Gift Basket

hi,
if you are near NAZARETH ; ' ALL DECKED OUT" on s. broad st. [ rt# 191]
has 'trail' baskets 1/2 off .. the hampers are lovely and practicle .. give them a call ask price ..$$$$$$$$$$$$$
pillow cases[ on sale] , any color [sale] lovely plush towels for bath or kitchen , [ always needed] , cookie sheets , pam , wax paper, pj's [his/hers] coffee, or simply ; if you have [ on hand] x tra holiday gift wrap , box of cards, tags, tape , scissors ..wrap up the wrapp'n paper !!!!!!!.
This is a GREAT gift for a spring shower !!!!! I may copy your idea ! this stuff is always needed !!!!!!!!
thanks ,
t

1 mom found this helpful

How about a basket of holiday decorations? One of my best shower gifts was a box of 12 quilted potholders from my Mother-in-Law. We were in an apartment at the time, so having a monthly "decoration" to hang up in my kitchen was so much fun. Now that we have a house, the potholders are still hung in the window each month, but I've had to buy all sorts of stuff to "decorate" as we now have a toddler. When we moved in, we needed things like suction cups with hooks, tape and 3M hooks that wouldn't mar surfaces, picture hooks, extension cords, timers (for lights), curtain rods, and of course, holiday specific stuff like an artificial tree, strings of lights, door decorations (you might be able to get a plain wreath at Michaels and include ribbon for several holidays?). You can do this - it should be fun!!!:)

HI M.,
Can you take them out of the boxes and put them in the basket? Then you can give the boxes to them in a separate bag.
Im not really sure what else you can add to the basket being that its not near Christmas. I suppose you could go to a specialty Christmas store but I only know of the ones at the beach. There must be one local. Maybe someone else knows or you can find something in the yellow pages.

Hi M.,

What if you stacked the boxes up and turned them into a wedding cake. You can wrap towels around it and place things inside, and she can "unwrap" the wedding cake and see all the wonderful things you put inside.

Great time to regift - do you have some partylite candle holders - clear one that would add to the theme?
Not sure of your location - there is a garden/florist shop right outside Sellersville - toward Souderton. There second floor is Christmas all year round.
How about a small laundry bssket for the ornaments?
Good luck.

What about taking pictures of all three items and putting them on fancy paper or in picture frames...that way you can still do a basket. Just a thought :-)

Use a laundry basket, it will come in handy and be big enough! If you get it from Bed Bath and Beyond you can use those 20% off coupons too.

Tuesday Mornings (in East Liberty) has tons of Christmas stuff on clearance right now.

You could create a tier instead of using a basket. Perhaps using bigger boxes than necessary. You could add some candles or scented sachets to go along with then towels.

first, the basket itself: if the ornaments are able to be taken out of their boxes to fit in a smaller basket, try looking at places like michaels, or even the baby section of burlington or target, and get a white wicker basket. that will give you more space, and still fits the "christmas" theme.

as for what else to put aside from the ornaments and red/green hand towels: christmas scented candles from yankee (the stores usually carry them, even out of season) or somewhere similar, anything silver or gold would also work, things like wrapping paper and tissue, even strings of lights (sometimes garden centers have these out of season).

hope at least one of these were useful suggestions!

If there is a Christmas tree shoppe near u they have a lot of boxes and christmas wrapping supplies. They had some big hat boxes you could use.

How about some green and red and white candles? And how about some live herbs such as thyme, cinnamom sticks bundled together with twine, or a mini evergreen tree plant?

Just off the top of my head. Dollar stores and farmer markets can be the low cost solution here.

Good Luck!

Fondly, ann m.

M.~

Looks like you got some good suggestions here... I like the idea of giving them stuff to spend their first Christmas as a married couple decorating their tree. That is just a sweet and romantic theme... I also think that personalized/hand-made stuff is really nice, like recipes from the family, engraved or handpainted or decorated frame, or other hand-made stuff, but I know you said you were pressed for time so that might not be easy to do at this point.

All I wanted to suggest, is looking online for holiday stuff. You can find Christmas stuff online all year round, and at this time of year, you will likely find some good bargains. The only thing is you will have to pay shipping, but if you do most of your shopping at one or two sites, it shouldn't be too bad!

Good luck!

Go to Ross, they have great prices and little odds and ends you can put together. Get two glasses and then add lotions and candles. Heck, the dollar store has nice items. Maybe not the lotion (use bath and Body works).

What if instead of putting them ina basket, you put them in one of those red or green (or even clear) tupperware type storage containers? They are great for storing Christmas ornaments and such and people don't think to buy them until they need them at the last minute. You could include gift wrapping supplies (tape, paper cutter, gift tags, etc.) And maybe make a nice front door wreath from supplies that you pick up from a discount or dollar store?

OK, hit your local dollar store. Grab a (green? red? white?) laundry basket, two cute mugs, a bag of peppermint candies, those aforementioned hand towels, and some red ribbon. Go to the grocery store and get some good hot chocolate mix and a small package of cinnamon sticks. Voila, you have the start of a "romantic first Christmas Eve" basket! If you want to go a little more high-scale, add a bottle of sparkling grape juice and a couple of champagne flutes. When she unwraps the basket, tell her they can make up the hot chocolate (with either the mints or the cinnamon sticks) while they decorate their first Christmas tree together!

I don't know if you have time for this one, but how about asking all your family members (and the groom's, too, if possible) to bring a Christmas ornament to finish your basket? That way your cousin and her husband can decorate their first tree with ornaments with special family significance. I was thrilled when my mom gave me all the ornaments that Santa had brought when I was a kid! Bonus - it is cheap for you ;)

wrapping them in christmas paper and putting them on a sleigh would be so cute, but finding a sleigh would be hard.

What about the big wicker laundry baskets? I see them at the craft stores alot usually on sale for $5 with some fabic lining it just use pinking shears, somethign like that. I would love to recieve a big plastic rubbermaid tote. You could put the lid on the bottom underneath and some how wrap the things inside. and put a bow around it.

OOOOOOO!!!! If these are waterford ornaments, could you get a tree branch and "pot" it and then hang the ornaments from the branches, On the order of a Money Tree

Red Candles, throw pillows from christmas fabric, a red table cloth, a pretty picture frame for thier first christmas together, family recipies for special christmas cookies, check the book store for Christmas cookbooks. check Hallmark stores for marked down Holiday items.

could you possibly find other Holidays, Like Easter hand towels and a fourth of july wreath etc. and do a Holiday Basket. If you had the time you might be able to find stuff. Kind of weird for a shower but if you post on freecycle or looked at a thrift store you might be able to find unused christmas stuff.

I know it's hard but sometimes you just have to say, This Theme isn't working out, and scrap it and just buy something off the registry.

I hope you have fun at the shower.

I like the idea of giving the ornaments in a storage container because with christmas decorations you have to store them somewhere. Another idea would be to get a table cloth (maybe christmas themed or even a white one) and lay it out, set the storage box on top and then bring all the ends together at the top of the box and tie a string around it...no bow is neccessary! Also you could put some tape, ribbon, and bows in the box with the ornaments.

Maybe a pretty candle (it can even be white). Since the boxes are so big, maybe you can stack them up like a tower and tie them together. How about a white or gold small tablecloth. They should be available at this time of year. Good luck.

You could take them out of the boxes and try to keep a Christmas decorating theme....extension cords, battery or electric window candles, wreath door hanger, green & red towels. Just a thought. Good luck!

Our school does baskets every year for fund raising and they always tell us, you don't have to use a basket. Last year I covered a box in tin foil, you could use other decorative foil. This year I put everything in a canvas bag I bought at walmart for 7 bucks. You could easily decorate a storage box of some kind or a plastic tub, or whatever goes with your theme. we always wrap lots of plastic around and finish it with ribbon.